Expressive arts therapy, encompassing activities such as painting, drawing, music, and dance, provides a powerful means of healing trauma. This therapeutic approach helps individuals process and integrate traumatic experiences, facilitating emotional expression and recovery. By engaging the creative brain, expressive arts therapy enables trauma survivors to access and articulate deep-seated emotions that might be difficult to express verbally.
Art has long been recognised as a therapeutic tool, capable of transforming invisible wounds into visible expressions. According to sources online, art can help individuals externalise their trauma, making it more manageable and less overwhelming. The process of creating art allows trauma survivors to construct a narrative around their experiences, which can lead to a sense of mastery and control over their trauma.
Research highlights the unique ability of art therapy to facilitate trauma healing. The nonverbal nature of art allows individuals to express what words cannot capture, tapping into the emotional and sensory experiences stored in the brain's right hemisphere. This form of therapy engages the body's sensory pathways, integrating physical, emotional, and cognitive aspects of trauma.Â
Expressive arts therapy also aligns with the principles of neurobiology and somatic experiencing. Research has shown that art-making can engage the lower-level somatic and limbic areas of the brain, helping to release and reorganise traumatic memories. Activities such as painting, music-making, and movement provide a safe space for individuals to process their emotions, leading to reduced somatic experiencing of trauma and enhanced emotional regulation.
Restoring Peace is a private mental health centre which provides counselling and psychotherapy services for children, adolescents, youths, adult individuals, couples and groups with anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and various mental health and relationship challenges. For more information, please visit www.restoringpeace.com.sg or WhatsApp at +65 8889 1848. For periodic updates, we invite you to join our telegram group: https://t.me/restoringpeace.
Keywords: trauma, PTSD, expressive arts, therapy, dancing, music, brain, biology, chemistry, amygdala, hippocampus, healing
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